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FOMC Updates: Sept. 25-26, 2018 Last week, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) met to discuss the economic conditions for the rest of 2018 and make predictions for the next three years. Though expected, the biggest news to come out of the meeting is the third increase of the Fed funds rate this year. In a unanimous decision, the Fed raised the rate by 25 basis points from 2 to 2.25 percent. The new interest rate hike means that savers can look forward to seeing higher yields on CDs and mone...

On July 31, 2018 the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced the approval of the national fintech charter. This announcement followed the Treasury Department’s report about how non-banks, like fintechs, should be regulated. The OCC’s decision is based on government efforts to promote economic growth, and support innovation that improves financial services to customers, businesses and communities.

Deposit Reclassification, also known as a retail sweep program, allows financial institutions to reduce their Federal Reserve Bank reserve requirement. The Federal Reserve’s 12 CFR 204 Regulation D sets out uniform requirements for all depository institutions’ reserve balances - either as vault cash or as funds held with their local Federal Reserve Bank. Retail sweep programs reduce reserve requirements, which Regulation D sets out for financial institutions to observe. How do these two opposing...